Recall Your Mom

And kudos once again to opponents of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker who celebrated their Dr. Martin Luther King Day holiday yesterday by hissing and chanting at the Governor during a solemn proclamation honoring Dr. King at the State Capitol in Madison. 

In doing so, the Democrats notched yet another important victory for loutish self-absorption over common decency in the continuing battle for the hearts and minds of independent voters in the Badger State. 

The highlights of their perfect season, undefeated by couth, includes shouting down the Pledge of Allegiance, booing the National Anthem, disrupting a ceremony honoring Special Olympians, and hassling returning troops, just to name a few.  Their behavior in our Capitol rotunda would get them thrown out of Walmart.   

Forget Scott Walker; you guys should recall your mom. 

Or whoever it was that raised you to believe it was ok to interrupt ceremonies, hurl vulgarities at 14-year-old girls, disenfranchise cloistered nuns, bribe children with cigarettes to sign recall petitions, stalk the families of public officials, throw beer or coffee on opponents, make death threats, and try to shut down dissenting media outlets. 

That might be what Democracy looks like in Venezuela or Iran, but not here.  That’s not even what 4th grade looks like here.  Our moms raised us to wait our turn, to let everyone speak, to compromise, to watch our language in public, to be gracious in both victory and defeat.  We learned to stand our ground, but not to stand in the path of others’ rights to pass.  We learned tolerance and patience – from our moms.  

We don’t taunt, we don’t bully, and we don’t respect people so undisciplined that they cannot put a sock in it for one hour to honor the memory of a man who sacrificed his life for a cause he carried with dignity and respect.          

I can understand why Democrats and unionists might not think disrupting an MLK commemoration is any big deal; after all, Dr. King had to fight Democrats to get black people their right to vote, and he had to fight unions to integrate the workforce.  It is unlikely that the union/government schools tell students who was the party of the KKK and separate-but-equal back in the day.

So what if Dr. King gave his life?  That is nothing compared to having to pay 12% of a health insurance premium, right?  And how can we equate something trivial like institutionalized segregation with something really awful, like allowing school boards to compete those WEA trust insurance contracts now that the scam is blown?  

I’ve heard the comeback: both sides do it.  No, they don’t; one side does it.  And that one side is not winning over any unaligned voters by pitching fits in public. 

We are about to waste $9 million of our hard-earned money to give our Democrats another mulligan, money that will not be available for education, the elderly, the environment, cancer research, bridge repairs, or bike paths.  Or, God forbid, tax relief for working people who can hardly make ends meet, thanks in part to one of the highest tax burdens in the country. 

2/3 of that recall money will be paid by Republicans and Independents, both of whom overwhelmingly approve of the job Governor Walker is doing – the job he was elected fair and square to do.

It will come out of township budgets across the state, townships run by common-sense people from both Parties who would prioritize snow removal over an unbudgeted election if it were up to them – and us.  If it were up to us, we would have the election to recall Scott Walker in November of 2014, when it was originally scheduled. 

But it’s not up to us. It’s up to people whose moms did not teach them to wait their turn.  It is up to union bosses from out East, together with the Madison liberals who think everyone’s money is their money, the Chicago urban vote factory which views Milwaukee as a colony, and out of state students who will leave us after graduation, taking with them the benefit of one of the best educations taxpayer subsidies can buy. 

Many of those students putting their idealism and energy behind the Walker Recall will relocate to the low-tax, Right-To-Work, concealed carry, energy-friendly, business-friendly states where there is opportunity.  I wish they would use that enthusiasm to help Governor Walker and his successors turn Wisconsin into one of those states, so they could find opportunities here.

That would make all our moms happy.  They could see their grandchildren without having to pay a bag fee and endure a public groping at the hands of TSA. 

 


“Moment Of Clarity” is a weekly commentary by Libertarian writer and speaker Tim Nerenz, Ph.D.  Visit Tim’s website www.timnerenz.com to find your moment.